Railway tie-plate



Dec. 15,1936. H, L, KEEN 2,064,664

RAILWAY TIE PLATE Filed July 27, 1934 l 7 I I] T :Lcufi. F W I 1 l V W IINVENTOR I4 m H W I Harold L. Keen BY I 1 ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 15,1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE I 4 Claims.

This invention relates generally to apparatus for fastening railroadrails to the cross ties usually set in the road-bed for supporting them,and more particularly comprises an improved form of slotted plate and apair of cooperating, bifurcated dogs set in such slots to grasp the baseflange of such rail having the standard form of T-shaped cross-section.

The invention is designed to produce simple forms of such plate and dogswhich can be easily made by a drop-forging process and which, whenassembled under and about the rail flange on the tie, can be securelyfastened to the latter by two spikes of ordinary form; said spikes, whendriven into the tie for said purpose, also wedging the dogs intogripping engagement with both rail-flange and plate.

The best form of apparatus at present known to me embodying my saidinvention is illustrated in the accompanying sheet of drawings in which,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a rail resting on two plates supported onwooden ties, parts being broken away;

Fig. 2 is a cross-section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1, on a larger scale andFig. 3 is a detail, fragmentary section on irregular line 33 of Fig. 1.

Throughout the drawing like reference characters indicate like parts.Numeral l indicates generally the T-rail of standard section, and 2, 2the wooden ties for supporting it. 3 indicates generally a substantiallyflat plate resting one on each tie and having a shallow groove 4 in itsupper surface into which the bottom flange [4 of the rail fits quitesnugly, 5, 5 are spaced-apart slots in plate 3, preferably extendingalong one and the same straight line transversely of the rail flange l4resting therein. If desired said slots 5.5 may each extend a little wayunder said flange as shown in Fig. 2.

In said slots 5. 5 are seated bifurcated dogs indicated generally bynumerals 6, 6 each having a lower jaw l projecting under plate 3, and anupper jaw 9 resting on the upper surface of the rail-flange I4.

The parts are so proportioned that when said dog jaws have been shovedtoward the rail-flange far enough to produce an initial engagementbetween the upper jaw 9 and the upper surface of the rail-flange, andbetween the lower jaw l and the under surface of plate 3, enough openspace will be left in each slot behind the tail of the dog mountedtherein to receive the lower portion of a wedge-shaped spike H) as shownat the left hand side of Fig. 2. When thereafter such spike is drivendown into the position shown at the right hand side of Fig. 2 the dog 6will have been forced into firm wedging engagement with flange l4 (theupper surface of which slopes downwardly and outwardly from the web I lof the rail in the usual manner, as shown) and also with the undersurface of plate 3. This firmly clamps the plate and railflangetogether, and at the same time and in one operation fastens the plateand dog to the tie 2.

Preferably the plate 3 is grooved as shown at 8 to receive the lower dogjaw l and the bottom of said groove is slightly inclined in a directionopposite to the inclination of the upper surface of rail flange M. Thisdivides and increases the wedging action of the dog jaws on theassembled plate and rail flange. Preferably, also the upper jaw 9 ofeach dog is undercut so as to form a relatively sharp under lip I2 atits extremity which may bite into the upper surface of railfiange M. Thetail of each dog may also be slightly inclined from a vertical plane asshown at I3 to conform to the wedge-shaped longitudinal section of eachspike l0 and give a better bearing for the latter. Similarly the uppersurface of each lower dog jaw 1 may be inclined to conform to theinclination of the bottom of groove 8 in which it lies, so as to getbroader bearing surfaces for the wedge action of the under jaw on saidplate.

Various changes could be made in the details of construction andarrangement above described, so long as the resulting apparatus iswithin the definition of one or more of the appended claims. The ends oftwo rails might meet over plate 3 between the dogs, or two pairs of dogsand slots might be used for each plate so as to respectively grasp theabutting ends of two rails.

Also the extent to which the jaws 9, 9 overhang flange I4, may be variedto any desired extent so long as a flrm grasp on the rail is maintained.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. Apparatus for fastening railroad rails to their supportingtiescomprising, in combination, a substantially flat plate adapted torest on such tie and provided with two longitudinally aligned slotstherethrough extending in a direction substantially parallel to such tieand spaced apart a suflicient distance to extend on either side of theflange of a railroad rail of standard crosssection, resting on saidplate, together with two bifurcated dogs of metal adapted to fit one ineach of said slots with its upper jaw establishing substantially linecontact with the top surface of such rail-flange along a line parallelto the edge of the rail-flange and its lower jaw extending under and insurface contact with the under surface of said plate, said jaws being soproportioned with reference to said slots and the thicknesses of thesaid plate and rail flange that when they are placed in said slots andpushed toward said rail far enough to have their said jaws initiallyengage said flange and plate there will be an open space left at theouter end of each such slot large enough to receive the lower end of a.wedge-shaped spike inserted therein from above; whereby, when the partsare so assembled and such spikes are driven down far enough into the tieto; fasten said plate thereto, said dogs will be thereby wedged intocloser engagement with the rail-flange and with said plate, therebyfirmly clamping the two together, and also fastening both to the tie.

2. A combination such as defined in claim 1 in which the non-bifurcatedends of said dogs are slightly beveled to conform to the taper of theparticular wedge-shaped spike to be so used.

3. In a railway tie-plate assembly, a dog for clamping the rail to thetie-plate comprising a shank portion, and a bifurcated portion havingupper and lower jaws, the lower jaw having a flat inner surface adaptedto coact with the under side of the tie-plate, the upper jaw having anundercut inner surface forming a linear bearing edge .adapted to coactwith the upper side of the rail-flange along a line parallel to thelength of the rail.

4. A dog as defined in claim 3 in which the shank portion has a taperedend adapted to coact with the body of a wedge-shaped spike in clampingthe tie-plate and the rail-flange between the jaws of the bifurcatedportion of said dog.

HAROLD LLEWELLYN KEEN.

